Sam Kusic
Copyright 2005 Tribune Review Publishing Company
West Newton police Chief Gary Indof wants to know who is responsible for the fliers demanding tips from customers on his wife’s newspaper delivery route.
Indof said that sometime Friday night and early Saturday morning, someone drove around West Newton sticking the fliers in newspaper tubes and mailboxes.
The flier states: “We are asking for some money from you to help with our Christmas expenses. We work hard delivering YOUR paper everyday and we feel that we deserve some money from you!”
The letter goes on to say: “We also accept checks.” It concludes with: “Also remember that my husband Gary is the Chief of Police for West Newton Borough and a respected member of your community!”
Indof said the fliers are bogus.
“We wouldn’t do something like this,” he said. “I don’t want somebody putting a check out in their mailbox for me.”
His wife, Veronica, delivers the Tribune-Review and The Valley Independent.
Jeff Simmons, circulation director for the Tribune-Review, said the carriers who deliver the newspaper are independent contractors, not employees of the newspaper.
“We do not authorize them to deliver advertisements or any other information not paid for and authorized by the newspaper,” Simmons said. “It has been a common practice that carriers will deliver a Christmas or holiday card to their customers, but those are usually simply holiday greetings from the carrier.”
Indof said he believes the flier is politically motivated.
In November, the borough council suspended Indof for three days without pay. He has served the suspension, and no one in the borough has given a reason for it.
Indof filed a grievance with Teamsters Local 205, which represents the police department, and had a hearing Monday. He still is awaiting a decision on whether council will uphold the suspension.
Indof said he has no idea how many fliers were handed out. He also said he found out about them when residents started calling him Saturday morning. He said some of the fliers were given to people who aren’t on his wife’s route.
Indof said he has talked to witnesses who reported that at about midnight, they saw a vehicle stopping at mailboxes. He declined to give a description of the vehicle, saying the information is part of an investigation.
Indof asked anyone with any information to call the borough police department at 724-872-8610.
December 18, 2005